Form NO. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74) NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK Theme: Commerce & Industry, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM

SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS ______TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS______I NAME HISTORIC The Pierpont Morgan Library

AND/OR COMMON Pierpont Morgan Library LOCATION

STREET & NUMBER 33 Eagt 35^ Street

_ NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY. TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT New York _ VICINITY OF 17 STATE CODE COUNTY CODE New York 36 New York 61 UCLA SSIFI c ATI ON

CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE —DISTRICT —PUBLIC -^OCCUPIED _AGRICULTURE —MUSEUM X-BUILDING(S) ^PRIVATE —UNOCCUPIED —COMMERCIAL —PARK —STRUCTURE —BOTH —WORK IN PROGRESS ^.EDUCATIONAL —PRIVATE RESIDENCE —SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE _ ENTERTAINMENT _ RELIGIOUS —OBJECT _ IN PROCESS -2YES: RESTRICTED —GOVERNMENT —SCIENTIFIC —BEING CONSIDERED — YES: UNRESTRICTED —INDUSTRIAL —TRANSPORTATION _ NO —MILITARY JR)THER: Library IOWNER OF PROPERTY

NAME Pierpont Morgan Library Association, STREET & NUMBER 33 East 36th Street CITY. TOWN STATE New York _ VICINITY OF New York HLOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC. ^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^^ Q± ^O ^ S STREET & NUMBER 31 Chambers flf.rp.p-t- CITY, TOWN STATE New York New York Q REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE None

DATE —FEDERAL —STATE —COUNTY —LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS

CITY, TOWN STATE DESCRIPTION

CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE ^EXCELLENT _DETERIORATED _UNALTERED X.ORIGINAL SITE _GOOD _RUINS FALTERED _MOVED DATE______FAIR __UNEXPOSED

———————————DESCRIBETHE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

J. P. Morgan commissioned the famous New York architectural firm of McKim, Meade and White in 1900 to design and erect a library adjacent to his house on East 36th Street. The building that the firm completed, largely under the direction of Charles McKim, in 1906 has been described as "... one of the Seven Wonders of the Edwardian World."1

The Rennaissance marble 1 rectangle, built of dry masonry, is centered on a portico in the front (south) facade. Six Doric pilasters on either side frame the pair of double Ionic columns of the entrance. Two flanking marble ^ lionesses, sculpted by Edward Clark Potter, guard the stairs up to the building and the sculpted lunette and panels over the entrance are the work of Andrew O'Connor. Through the double bronze doors, imported from Italy, is the domed entrance hall, richly decorated with marble columns and pilasters, as well as painted panels and frescoes done by Harry Siddons Mowbray. The East Room is entered through a doorway in the entrance hall, which now houses medieval manuscripts in the stacks which line the walls in three tiers. This room is also ornately decorated, especially the ceiling, with the works of Mowbray and other works of art from all ages.

Across the hall from the East Room is Morgan's study, the West Room. The walls are covered with red silk and are hung with many works of art, mainly of the Rennaissance period. The wooden polychrome ceiling is actually sus­ pended from a concrete ceiling above. Morgan's massive desk sits near the north wall, across from a large and elaborately carved marble fireplace. Still on the desk are Morgan's silver letter opener, magnifying glass and othey of his desk accoutrements. The room bespeaks power, wealth, taste and elan, a unique reflection of Morgan.

In 1927, an annex to the library was built west of the library, on the site of Morgan's house. This three story rectangular building plainly and simply reflects the classic lines of the main library. In 1960, a long cloistered hall was built behind the buildings, connecting them.

The annex presently houses the bulk of the library's stacks, offices, and the exhibit and reading rooms. The basement houses the maintenance facilities. The ground around the two buildings is neatly landscaped and enclosed by the original bronze lattice fence. Francis Henry Taylor, Pierpont Morgan, as Collector and Patron, 1837-1913 (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, 1957) p. 37. 01 SIGNIFICANCE

PERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

—PREHISTORIC _ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC —COMMUNITY PLANNING —LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE —RELIGION — 1400-1499 —ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC —CONSERVATION —LAW —SCIENCE — 1500-1599 —AGRICULTURE —ECONOMICS —LITERATURE —SCULPTURE — 1600-1699 _X\RCHITECTURE —^EDUCATION —MILITARY —SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _1700-1799 _ART _ENGINEERING —MUSIC —THEATER — 1800-1899 —COMMERCE —EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT —PHILOSOPHY —TRANSPORTATION JS1 900- —COMMUNICATIONS _INDUSTRY —POLITICS/GOVERNMENT —OTHER (SPECIFY) —INVENTION

SPECIFIC DATES BUILDER/ARCHITECT 1906 McKim, Meade and White STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

John Pierpont Morgan exemplifies the emergence of the financier as a powerful force in American industry. He pioneered the art of finance capitalism, and eventually assumed a unique position in the history of American commerce and industry.

In 1900, Morgan commissioned the architectural firm of McKim, Meade and White to design and build a library, adjacent to his house, at 33 East 36th Street, in New York City. The Pierpont Morgan Library was completed in 1907, a marble Rennaissance-styled edifice which housed Morgan's study and his invaluable collections of manuscripts, paintings, and sculpture. The Library has since been expanded and opened to the public, but the richly ornamented rooms of the original building still continues to reflect the character of Morgan himself.

HISTORY

John Pierpont Morgan was born on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut, a son to Junius S. Morgan, a millionaire. Nevertheless, the future colossus of Wall Street was both thrifty and religious as a child. His first hobby, apparently, was collecting the signatures of bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

Because of ill health, Morgan began in 1852 an almost continous five-year period of residence in Europe. He sailed for the Azore Islands in November, 1852, and subsequently joined his family in England in 1853. Upon concluding the "Grand Tour" in July, 1853, he returned to America. But when his father .settled in England in 1854, Morgan returned to the Continent. He attended f°reign -preparatory schools, and studied at the university in Gottingen U?ln& hls last two years abroad. By the time he returned to the United States In 1857, he had acquired a European "patina" that he retained until his death.

Morgan between 1857 and 1871 achieved a solid position in the financial world, married and was widowed, and remarried. The large and burly young man worked for a while in his father's firm in London, where he acquired his first lessons in commercial banking, before returning to the United States. Upon his landing in America he quickly established himself, and during the Civil War concluded several profitable undertakings. By 1864 his income was $53,286. He joined the firm of Drexel, Morgan and Company on July 1, 1871, thus becoming a member of one of the country's leading banking houses. About a decade IMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Frederick Lewis Alien, The Great Pierpont Morgan (New York, 1949). S. Sydney Bradford, "The Pierpont Morgar. Library," National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings form 10-317, 2/20/67. John Chamberlain, The Enterprising Americans: A Business History of the United States (New York, 1963). Francis Henry Taylor, Pierpont Morgan as Collector and Patron, 1837-1913 (New York, 1957)

DGEOGRAPHICAL DATA less than 1 acre ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY ______UTM REFERENCES

A| L 8l I5i8i5l9i8i0l I 4. ili6iO ZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING cl , I I I . , , ol . I I I i I . . I I.I.I.. VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION Beginning at the northeast intersection of _36th0 Stre>:eet and Madison Avenue, proceed nortn along the east curb of Madison Avenue for 98.9 , thence east along the rear property line of the library for 216.6 to the eastern property line of the library, thence south along said property line 98.9 to the north curb of 36th Street, thence east 216.6' to the point of origin. These boundaries enclose the library properties within the boundaries of their lot.

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE CODE COUNTY CODE

STATE CODE COUNTY CODE

FORM PREPARED BY NAME/TITLE Richard Greenwood, Historian, Landmark Review Task Force

ORGANIZATION DATE Historic Sites Survey 7/18/75 STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE 1100 L. Street 202-523-5464 CITY OR TOWN STATE Washington B.C. STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: NATIONAL__ STATE___ LOCAL___

As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evalua criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.

FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE SIGNATURE

JUATJONAL HISTORIC .{NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS), LANDMARKS) Form No. 10-300a (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STAThSDLPARTMhNTOF THh IN II-.RIOR FOR NPS USE ONLY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RECEIVED NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED

CONTINUATION SHEET 1 ITEM NUMBER « PAGE

before, he had married Amelia Sturges; on October 7, 1861, who succumbed to tuberculosis less than five months after her wedding. Morgan remarried on May 31, 1865, Frances Louisa Tray.

Fourteen years after his second marriage, Morgan effected a financial transaction of notable importance in the history of American banking, and of great significance to his own career. By 1879, American industry had reached a point in its trend toward consolidation that forced industrialists to turn increasingly to banks for capital and credit to underwrite the growing number of mergers in industry. That development thus stimulated the rise of investment houses, which assumed greater and greater control over industry as they financed the rise of trusts. One of the first instances of the new process occurred in 1879, when Morgan sold $250,000 shares of New York Central Railroad stock. That financial coup enabled the Vanderbilt family to retain control of the railroad. But Morgan, in addition to earning $3,000,000 from the sale, demanded and received a seat on the railroad's board of directors. Morgan thus emerged from the transaction enriched, empowered to help control the New York Central, and enthroned as a power in American capitalism.

Morgan's New York Central triumph ushered in the "era of Morgan." Concentrating on railroads, the financier as a historian observes, "...essayed the role of a private Interstate Commerce Commission." Whenever Morgan turned his attention to a railroad, he became the dominant voice in its management. He not only insisted on certain financial remedies affecting the line, but retained sufficient influence in order to enhance the beneficial management of the railroad. The panic years of the early 1890's witnessed one Morgan reorganization after another—the Erie, New Haven, Reading, Southern Railway System, Norfolk and Western, and Baltimore and Ohio, all felt the hand of the master. By 1900, it is estimated that Morgan controlled about 100,000 miles of track. Only the Federal Government curbed Morgan's power when it prosecuted a mammoth combination of railroads that was dominated by the New Yorker. As a result, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the combine on March 14, 1904.

John Chamberlain, The Enterprising.^Amerlcajig. (New York, 1963), p. 165 Form No. 10-300a (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DLPARTML.NT Ol THL i N I hRIOR FORNPSUSCONiY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RECEIVED NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM

CONTINUATION SHEET 2 ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE 3

Although restrained by the government apropos of railroads, Morgan had already fathered a mighty steel organization. In 1901, Morgan, then 65 and the leader of a syndicate, paid Andrew Carnegie $492,000,000 for the Carnegie Steel Company and them organized the United States Steel Company. The new company had all the legality of many smaller concerns, was capitalized at $1,402,000,000, and controlled 70 per cent of America's iron and steel industry.

Three years after Washington had forced the demise of the giant railroad complex, Morgan averted a national panic. His marshalling of New York's leading bankers and financiers in his new library on November 2, 1907, lead to an agreement to raise $25,000,000 in order to support weak financial institutions in New York. The success of Morgan's move helped to restore confidence in the country's financial state, and calm replaced terror in the market place.

Six years remained for Morgan after 1907. During them, he paid less and less attention to business. His interest in art remained strong, though, as it had been for years. For decades, Morgan had spent much time in Europe, frequently sailing across the ocean on his yacht, the Corsair, a 165-foot steam yacht that he had bought in 1882. Through those trips, as well as through dealers, Morgan amassed an outstanding art collection. When he died on March 31, 1913, he had an assured position in history as both a financier and collector. The library's collections continued to be expanded by Morgan's son, who in 1924, endowed the library with $1,500,000 and conveyed it to a board of trustees, who administer its use by the general public.

The collected treasures of the Morgan Library are far too extensive to enumerate here. Outstanding among these however are the manuscripts of the Middle Ages and the Rennaissance. One of the most extensive and choice collections of its kind in the world, it includes the ninth century Ashburnham Gospels with its jeweled Carolingian cover, the Greek Lectionary made in Constantinople in the eleventh century, as well as the ancient papyri, Dioscorides' De Materia Medica in Greek, and illustrated manuscripts from Armenia, Persia, and Egypt. Morgan's collecting also extended into autograph letters and modern literary manuscripts, early printed books and bookbindings and one of the most important collection of drawings in the United States.

The Pierpont Morgan Library testifies to the fact that its creator was perhaps the greatest American patron of the arts. As he stated in his will:

I have been greatly interested for many years in gathering my collections Form No. 10-300a (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STA 11;SDLPAR1MI NT Ol THh INILRIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM

CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE 4

. . .and it has been my desire and intention to make some suitable disposition of them . . . which would render them permanently available for the instruction and pleasure of the American people.3

quoted by Francis Henry Taylor, Pierpont Morgan as Collector and Patron, 1837-1913, p. 39.